A THOUSAND VOICES
In 2012 and 2014 Les Palette du
Kame organized an artistic intervention in the fishing communities of
Limbe,Tiko and Idenau in the South West area of Cameroon. The purpose
of this intervention was to give breath to the fishing activity that is the
main income of the people’s daily life, build bridges, create awareness, peace and
unity between Cameroonians’ and Nigerians, using site specific works and
collaborations with the local people based on materials found in these
locations.
This exploration and experimenting spanned numerous media. The
interventions were broadly about belonging, identity with the land, individual
validity and relation to current external influences of socio economic life in
the fishing areas. There was also a focus on internalizing living experiences
through appreciation of the fishing communities
Artist from Cameroon and Nigeria
shared their ideas and worked on concepts during the one week residency in the
identified communities. Limbe, Tiko and Idenau are in the resource rich Bakassi
Peninsular located along the West African coast in the Gulf of Guinea or the
Bight of Biafra.
Historically, it came into being
under the British protectorate on 10/08/1884 following the infamous Berlin
Conference of 1885 where the continent of Africa was carved up for the taking
like a piece of cake to European imperialists.
Oil deposits were discovered
centuries later, but it was always of strategic importance because of its
proximity to the Atlantic Ocean, and prolifically diverse marine resources.
The protracted territorial dispute
almost led to war between Nigeria and Cameroon over the ownership of this valuable
land, that was resolved at the International Court of Justice at the Hague. The
final ruling in October 2002 ceded sovereignty of Bakassi Peninsular and the
disputed area in Lake Chad to Cameroon.
Our artistic intervention started
in Limbe formerly called Victoria, after Queen Victoria during the British rule
in the region. Located in the bay area
of south west Cameroon, this place is home to the second largest port and the famous Mount Cameroon a previously active
volcano and black sandy beaches from past lava flows that has an exotic quality
even if it acquired the quality through the intervention of nature. These are
unadulterated contrast to the creamy ochre beaches in Nigeria. The sand here
seemed scarred yet still retains the story of its experience, for people like
us who would come years later to mull over the event and imagine the devastation
of the place at that point in time. The darkness of the sand made everything
else enhanced, giving them an accented quality and visual impression of the
place, that would be lost on the otherwise bright creamy ochre gold beaches
found along the West African coast.
Black sandy beaches in Limbe
To get there, we travelled by
road from the busy city center of Duala with all the regular clichés of an
African city to Limbe, coming from our metropolitan base, the topography was a stunning sight to
behold, there were naturally landscaped vegetation , undulating man-made
landscapes full of acres and acres of sprawling
plantations as far as the eye could see. The banana trees with the fruit wrapped in
blue polythene bags to prevent insect infestation, rubber trees swaying to one
side, palm fruit, cocoa, etc., with houses or settlements built for the workers
, it was obvious to see that this was a well-funded, fully organized part of Cameroons agro based
economy for the export market. There were also the hills and valleys
popping and dimpled all over the
landscape with a variety of agro produce
, only to be exceeded by the great Mount Cameroun , imposingly sprawled in all its majesty, watching over everything. Its peak was wafted
by brushes of cotton wool like clouds in a hurried attempt to deny or maybe camouflage
its height. We also learnt at this point that races are organized annually by
locals and international visitors up the mountain for the exciting challenge of
the terrain. We arrived in Limbe at dusk, it took us an hour and fifteen
minutes as we drove into the valley surrounded by more greenery,
vegetation, houses, storey buildings and bungalows, they were reminders( during
my university education) for me of driving into Enugu from ninth mile Nsukka via Miliken hill in
the in the mid-80s, so calm, quaint and picturesque. Limbe is also the center of the oil industry
and home to the only state owned refinery Sonara, that refines crude oil and
its derivatives, diesel, petrol, kerosene, bitumen, gas etc. The oil facilities
such as the jack-up-rig, drilling platforms or deep water discovery rigs are
unbelievably close to the fishing communities and inevitably contribute to environmental
consequences and dwindling fish catches.
The three fishing communities
were characteristically different and interesting. The closer knit community of
Tiko had a central system that catered to the villagers in extension. The most
striking thing about the communities was their ingenious material
improvisations which ran through all the communities. It is a testament to
enduring character in the face of an afterlife from the previous conflicts in
the area. We found a lot of ingenious hand-woven artistry, and material
implementation that spoke to the numerous found indigenous hangings that we
would term installations as part and parcel of their lives.
It is very pertinent to note that
a very significant aspect of the experience of the expedition was the people of
these communities. The human nature and energies dispensed by the inhabitants
from these areas are important in discerning the aura that is felt for a
creative interaction in these locations. There is the impression from interaction
that was a highlight for us, the unrefined but genuine presentation of people
simply living their lives. There were the categories of children, mostly young men
and the elders. It is important to note that customarily the women were not in
the picture not unlike the patriarchal linage found in most of Africa, except
in the Limbe fishing village. There was some
activity but the most interaction came with the other groups.
The lives of the people are hard,
the conditions of living are not particularly unfamiliar to global fishing villages
found all over the world, it is the
stereotypical picture we always see on television whenever our continent is the topic of discussion for
whatever propaganda is being promulgated. Nevertheless, it does not diminish
the weight of the personal experience of the people in that, one can understand
the challenges of the community, in our generalized Africa which continues in
some circles to be referenced as a country instead of a continent, third world,
emerging nation etc.
Our observation of the lives of the people of
these communities does exhibit the common fugal self-support system that has
taken over our continent in the light of failed social and political systems.
This does in a way bring on a sense of helplessness and general frustration
with the relationship of the people with their governments which are ironically
supposedly elected by these same people for better welfare infrastructure,
education, health and basic living amenities which never ever become a reality
Tiko: A Thousand Voices
Tiko fishing village is a
stunningly beautiful creek area with mangrove forests that lend support to biologically
diverse ecosystems, lush vegetation and many species of fish. This is a piece
of land, made up of peoples divergent
voices including those of some, who had historically never seen, nor set foot
on her land. The land of the area has its history. For centuries, her
sovereignty and natural resources had been contested for, right up to this
contemporary time and even more recently when the politics of oil discovery
also became a divisive factor.
The site for our artistic
intervention in this area which was an installation was inspired when we found
a very tall, naked, lifeless and sun-bleached tree on the shoreline, right
among the preparation areas of the fishermen where they set out to fish. Its
location overlooked the shed-like huts that were lined up in the village as
accommodation. The skeletal tree stood defiantly among the lush greenery as a symbolic
metaphor for the living environment of the real indigenous fishermen and their
families who live on meager incomes and live in abject poverty. This is the
story of most West African fishing communities including the Niger Delta, where
they are the victims of oil exploration
and have always been marginalized and on the periphery of socioeconomic and geopolitical
discussions, debates, sharing formulas and benefits that ruin their lives and
are the bane of their existence .
Despite this experiential predicament,
the people were very receptive and collaborated happily in building the
installation and all the other projects that were created. It was peaceful and
calm in the area but when one stood still, listened intently, there was a
persistent chattering from a proliferation of dotted weaver birds that had made
up a whole community of nests in the tress of this area. These weaver birds
build, claim and create clusters by constructing intricately woven homes to
attract prospective mates. They appropriate found materials in that area such
as tall elephant grass, palm fronds, wood and sticks just as we did in our
installation.
Weaver
Bird Nest
Materials gathered for the installation were
disused fishermen’s tackle like fish nets, fishing baskets, rattan fishing
scoops, polystyrene floats and so forth.The constant chattering of the weaver
birds mimic the clamor of voices of the disconcerted and the disenfranchised
fishing communities in riverine areas, this provoked the title “A Thousand
Voices”. What was most striking was that as we were working, things happened right
before our eyes within hours of the creation of the installation that was
initially on the shore line. The installation now became submerged in the
water, it was spectacular! The tide rose so quickly that we were advised by the
villagers that if we did not leave, we would be trapped there till the tide goes
out. The natural forces of coastal tides and flows influence or dictate the
lives of the fishermen on this land, when to fish and when not to, chasing us
away, to recede the next morning. Considering the irony of the tide in itself,
it presents nature in the midst of propaganda and politics that revolve around
this geographic area, as much as there is the blindness to the actual
inhabitants and the habitat from the myriad of standpoints of the more
secondary party who has the primary authority over the area. In the tide, nature seems to take on the
existence of the land area in itself. The tide comes in and erases the topic of
contention in the possibility of providing reason for the inhabitants and the
habitat at large only to return the next day in the hope of positive outcomes.
The installation made by us was fully in tune with the concept of using what
was available.
Christians
Polltion Installation
THE COMMUNAL SPACE
In Tiko village, we created a particular project
of engaging the children who are the future of the village to finding a place
of identity in the sort of open air
village shed. The Space was designated as central
point of gathering and relaxation in the village, much like a town hall. It was
a place that was flocked by the adults, while the children gathered and played
a small distance away. There seemed a kind of vacuum, separation or
displacement in the orientation of the children in relation to things that were currently going on in the
village but just as expected from children they were always very engrossed with
the activity going on inside the communal space . They seemed to be losing out
on the discussions inside the communal space which in turn affects the sense of
belonging in the area. The goal of the project was to stamp a sense of identity
and belonging, which the children could find through the participation in the
project and could access even after it’s over, the residue of visual evidence
of their participation in the project space and structure , symbolized the buzz and activity of the village.
Odun and
the kids
For this project, we made murals
with the children of the community by having their handprints pasted in different
colours all over the communal space. The
energy of the activity was so intense, and electric with the bubbling excitement
of the children. They kept consistently working on the project never tiring, and one can assume that if time had permitted they would
have been more than willing to continue painting the whole village. The introduction of different colours in the
landscape of structures that were predominantly wood brown in broad
monochromatic tones, was also quite different and had its effect on the
temperament of the children with the brightness of the new colours in contrast
to the neutrals of the environment.
Tyna and
the Kids
It was such a strong intervention as the
children overran the communal shed and will definitely find themselves part of
meetings which will now be held in a space where they have physical visual
evidence of their presence and validity that will subliminally remind the
elders of their own needs too.
Our National Flags
Work continued with our colleagues and the over-eager
participation of children in painting or emblazoning our respective flags
in various locations in this community ( and Limbe). A country’s national flag
serves as an emotional and sentimental unifying symbol that puts to rest or
truncates our ethnicity, religious beliefs and culture. It is also the one
thing apart from art, music and football .that ignites passion unity and a
sense of patriotism pride and togetherness. This empowers us to forget our
preconceived biases, assumptions and social conditioning. The Nigerian flag
features three vertical stripes in equal proportions, the green on the left and
right symbolizes our lush green vegetation, agriculture and its natural
resources, while the white stripe in the
middle symbolized unity and the desire for peace. Nigeria gained independence
on the first of October 1960, The Cameroonian flag also features three vertical
stripes, the green on the right symbolizes the forests in the south, the red in
the middle unity, while the yellow on the right represents the sun, happiness
and the savannahs in the north with the
yellow five pointed star in the middle of the flag is referred to as the star
of unity. Cameroon gained independence
on the 1st of January 1960, while its flag came into being on May 27
1975.
We stamped our authority and
sense of self by painting on selected houses, and in one case, the front of an
entire home. Our countries’ flags
signified the duality of a shared past;
colonial and geo-political history, intercommunal and cross border marriage, Pan
African unity , reclamation and aspirations for a greater future on our continent.
Art and collaborative residencies such as this, nurture and foster greater
understanding between people, communities and countries.
SLAVERY: Idenau and Lascombe community
The issue of slavery along the West
African coast was interestingly raised during discussions amongst the
Cameroonian artists and fishermen, and also
by finding connections standing on or walking through places with great
history. This brought up thoughts of how things might have been in our
historical past and how those who must have lived there at that time, might
have felt or lived their lives in the conditions of their time. There is the
refutable fact that we are women and tend to connect and understand and not to
mention experience most things from this perspective. We also live and are acquainted
with the symbolism and innuendos that are affiliated to women in our perception
of historical walks. There were discussions on what must have occurred at that
time with the women in these communities during slavery way beyond other
conflicts that have crossed the area centuries ago?
NDIDI DIKE AND ODUN ORIMOLADE IN
CONVERSATION:
Residues
and Memories of Slavery.
O.O: We had an interesting
residency in April 2014 when Les Palette du Kamer organized an artistic
intervention in the fishing communities of Limbe,Tiko and Idenau in the south
west area of Cameroon. The purpose of the intervention was to give new life to
the fishing activity that is the main income of the people’s daily life. It was
also to build bridges, create awareness, peace and unity between Cameroonians’
and Nigerians using site specific
collaborations and works created in these communal spaces with the participation of local people based on materials found in
their identified locations within the
fishing communities. The collaborative projects were very interesting but could
we briefly talk about your other experiences outside of the artistic focus of
our participation in the intervention in the fishing communities in Cameroon.
N.D: Firstly I must say, artists long for the
luxury of being able to create art in a free and enabling environment, our stay
in Cameroon certainly provided the impetus for such. I was elated and curious at my expectations
associated with working in an unfamiliar environment. I found myself unconsciously adopting an instinctive, intuitive and open-minded
strategy to allow ideas float in and out and veer off on different tangents , that made me view things
differently, and perhaps call for a
different medium of interpretation and
expression while at the same time, being aware of the demands of the project
for which I was there. This is the beauty of “Seeing” and feeling”, I also
recognized the fact and became more aware that we had a shared dual history of
special interest, resource extraction, colonialism and slavery etc. along the West African coast that kept popping up during our group
discussions.
O O: Before we delve any further, please engage me
with a brief introduction to slavery in this part of the West African coast
that has been a preoccupation for you in your professional practice as an
artist.
N D: The predominant slave
narrative almost always comes from the African American, Afro- American,
Brazilian, European perspective and so forth, while Slavery along the West
African Coast had existed for centuries. I think, a contemporary African
perspective that seems to be neglected could perhaps offer another view to this
consistent and more inclusive narrative. In Cameroon, Limbe not much is known
about slavery but it was allegedly started by the Portuguese, then the Dutch,
and the British whose missionaries “ helped” to abolish it, while
there was still an ongoing tussle between the British and the Germans over
trading rites, it is actually alleged in history, that the Douala of Cameroon
served as middlemen in some of the transactions, while the majority of slaves
traded from the Cameroon came from inland invasions on Bimbia 8.5km from Limbe.Bimbia is on the east coast
located near the Atlantic Ocean. It served as a major slave port and the supply
of slaves to the new world. Remains of historical stone, relics and slave cells
bear witness to this tragic period of history that still exists to this day, of
which Limbe is also a part
.O.O: This is intriguing and takes
me back to your very significant solo exhibition that was titled Waka-Into-Bondage: The Last ¾ Mile
curated by Bisi Silva at the CCA Lagos. So, let me ask; why do you consistently
in one form or another or by insinuation return to the topic of slavery or in
current day vernacular, human trafficking and what made you decide to use me as
your Muse in the course of the projects we worked on in Cameroon?
N.D: Yes! Conceptually speaking,
that exhibition was a step further in stimulating my ever changing evolution as an artist, the
word “human trafficking” is just a question of semantics, it’s like donning up
a word in a new garb, no matter what, it
does not and can never ever remove the
depth and pain still associated with that period of time in the black or
African American history. Sights,
sounds and physical
encounters conjure up vivid imaginations
and emotions, the stark reality and empathy I felt as I once again, dipped my
feet on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean( while working in these fishing
communities when we collaborated and installed our works) that harbored and to
this day, is still linked to the history of our continent, this tryst or action or catalyst subconsciously led to the murmur of dominant
vibrations that persistently force me to periodically return to the recurring
slave narrative of our ancestors forced migratory path in my current day studio
practice. Rooted in the perspective of being a woman, while working with you, I
noticed an energy and intensity that radiates and bursts from you, that I could
read organically, and interpret into performance, at the behest of my request.
This embodiment of characteristics is what became my Muse, Odun, you then became
and transcended into my Muse, you enabled me to imagine a state of consciousness
as a voyeur into the mindscape, headspace and time of a woman who survived but
witnessed the abduction of her family and village during a slave raid. Our
staged scenarios, or verses, stanzas, poetries were a perfect medium to express
what I could not say in my familiar media, this time it was to be words, video
and captured/photographed performance I hoped would suffice for the imagination
and insertion into the time space of that awful reality that treads and
trickles on to this contemporary time.
Your black cladding and covering
up of the face, despite the transparency and thin net like quality of
the material, intensified your facial expressions, is to me interpreted as symbolic of mourning and loss,
and not about erasure or denial but self-preservation, a protective barrier to
emotionally divorce the potency of oneself.
From getting too close or
intimate with the person you are portraying and the pain that perhaps one would
otherwise experience, the separate identities do not function as a duality,
quite like our culture of masquerading that has a multiplicity of meanings and
functions, I saw a transformation from the self to another being that had with fear
and trepidation gone back in time to literally and figuratively portray
memories of time and location. The poses were different retracing of the steps
formerly visited by people, members of my imagination, showing reactions of
despair trepidation disbelief anguish deep seated or rooted sadness loss, that
state of being that mentally wafts in and out of the present purported reality
that is being experienced
O.O: I would like to share
something about my internal experiences during
the performance
N.D: Please feel free to, it was
a mutually intense experience, where both spirits resonated as one.
O.O: I too felt a very strong
kinship and empathy with your feelings referencing my journey to the Elmina Castle
in Ghana in 2013 while performing. Through the
poses, it seemed as though I imbibed a state of mind as if to cuddle up
in the notion to close the self off from everything else. The fetal position as
much as it staves off external influences, it also intensifies internal nuances
of entering into a separate space that the tangible location infers.
Stretching, crouching, standing, there were all different means to sense any
residue of the presence of those who would have been in the boat that had taken
them away. The state of the boat that was chosen as the subject lent itself to
the concept a hand of things gone past. The boat seemed that it was weathered
and worn with history of its nefarious activity though it only had a recent
history of wear from extensive fishing activity
but its visual look helped the story embodied in the character of the boats that held the
abominable cargo it had once carried
centuries ago.
N.D: This was so deep and
meaningful coincidently, it leads me to another incident I encountered and will
expatiate on your reference to the boat, I had noticed as we drove into Edinao
on a German built bridge,
with a territorial naval base
jointly manned by Cameroonians and Nigerians, on the right hand side, a large wooden boat, called le Piroque by the
francophone countries normally made from a single log of wood, lying on its
side. This old and weathered boat in the past was used for fishing and the
transportation of slaves to larger rigged ships that were anchored further out
in the Atlantic Ocean during the transatlantic slave trade. This immediately
triggered in my mind a visualization of the holding cells on the boat, the
slaves and the slave traders.
For this work, there was a redefinition and reenactment
of this moment in our West African
history, using the fishermen of Lascombe village made up of
Cameroonians, Nigerians, Ghanaians, Beninois and Togolese, to be a part of a performance interventions
using one of the boats on the beach as an installation. I asked them to
voluntarily enter the boat with pride and confidence to symbolize the enactment
and homage to our forcefully migrated ancestors, which is ironic to the brutal
situation perpetuated centuries ago, there was certainly no pride then in such
activity that at times was carried out in secret. People were literally
abducted from sight even in the doing the perpetuators knew it was an unconscionable act but profit
trumped all that. In the process, the fishermen elected to select who would be
in the portrait with one child in this portrait, those in the photograph
represented not only those who survived the middle passage and all its
atrocities, but their lives and labour ultimately led to modern capitalism and
the continued prosperity of present day
industrialized world economies.
I observed the participants pose
in a very unconscious manner with an interest that is affiliated to the concept
of having their picture taken. They rested on the symbol of anguish and robbery
that had housed people of their community centuries ago with only a view of its
commercial quality of bringing food back home. They seemed blissfully unaware
of the irony of the same object functioning in an exploitative use where they,
the people are the commodity. The pose brought together a marriage of the past
and present with the element of characters that are from the present in the
subject and object but both having links to the past both symbolically and in
genealogy
Africans in the Lascombe Community
O.O: On the heels of this
Cameroonian experience, what inspirations would you plan acting on in the
future considering your consistent contributions to the contemporary Nigerian
art field?
N D: Before I came to Cameroon, I
was already working on a few projects, when I get back to my studio, I will
continue with them and add our
publication documenting our experiences here, and also the use of iconic
slavery images and objects that still hold sway and reference the global world of trade, industrial production
processes, migratory deaths in the
Mediterranean Sea, consumerism and popular culture in Lagos markets etc.
Boats , and Platforms.
It was extremely odd to see oil rig
platforms so close to shore. The first instinct was that of trepidation and
apprehension as to first, one’s personal
security then the security of the communities that were already in existence
before these rigs came up so close to their personal living areas, commercial
areas right smack dab in the middle of where their fishing
practices are being conducted.
There is a triad relationship of
the commercialism with the platforms that lives off the fishing communities,
the fishing boats that are the soul of the community and commercial pulse which
are also akin to the slavery boats that carried out the commercialization of
human lives in the history of people of coastal regions of West Africa.
They seemed interlinked in
carrying each other and affecting each other from a point of the rape and
exploitation of human resources and
suppression to the struggle for existence and livelihood that even if not
technologically advanced, has lasted generations in providing and sustaining
right into the newly found resources that begin a new tussle for products on
the same space and location. However odd, the visual relations may seem in
their abstracted construction or structure, they are linked by the lives of the
people that have and are living their lives in that location and are tied by
the experiences that they go through in their lineages that do not end through
genealogical transmission
.
Darting Souls
The Tiko
fishing village has a lot of mangrove swamps, forests and fora also inhabited by fish in tall
structures in that, the people have been
sailing in and out of them for generations. Some of the abandoned boats
lay in disrepair within the huge root vegetation, were the intricate winding
courses of the vegetation sometimes lead into thick dark areas of mass clusters
or intricate and broad expanses where the river flows through and creates its
own course.
It brings to mind thoughts of the
people who have lived their lives in and around these areas over the years through
all the occurrences and events. How their souls would have darted around these
locations before their passing, leaving the silent vines to carry the memory of
their existence and an account of their
experiences unable to speak out to us, the current observers. It seemed
appropriate to incorporate as an element of this work, the image of the black
body which is used in previous performances that occurred during the residency
that served as metaphor for the
embodiment of the spirit of an individual in representation of a multitude
of facts and places.
The black body darting through
the vines is a repetitive constant that alludes to the continuity of human life
in this habitat. Highlighting the relation of the people to the geographical
area regardless of what documented information and the building of archives
promulgates. The black body here is the talisman that indicates and affirms the
core of the relationship between the people and the location with the events
and communal lifestyles and systems that have wrapped, oriented and forged them
into contemporary times
The Idenau and Tiko fishing villages have a lot of
mangrove swamps and forests ,and fora
also inhabited by fish , that the people have been sailing in and out of for
generations. The boats lay in repair within the huge root vegetation. Also were
the intricate winding courses of the vegetation sometimes leading into thick
dark areas of mass clusters or intricate and broad expanses where the river
flows through and creates its own course.
Visual Encounters and Fishing
life Installations
There was so much to see in these
semi-rural environments for visual artists. Predominantly, were the onslaught
of colours and textures provided by nature and man living their lives the way they do. The
textures from the nets, jumbled work tools, stretchers, doorways, constructed
walls and so many others were infinite in their attraction.
There was a huge installation to
protect the fish roasting den from rain
that was magnificent. Its construction and colour coordination, an assemblage
of umbrellas was a handmade structure of
repurposed umbrellas to combat the high
winds in the area.
Also were the repurposing of the
heavy fish nets to make huge hammocks for rests during breaks.
Most of the man-made art
installations that were found all provide functional value and inspired the
process project of sewing old storage bags together to provide the much needed
shade that is inadequate in these communities. The intense action of arranging
aesthetically then sowing them together
by hand as a way repurposing them for function that is the core
of the community culture in these areas. The action removed the lifestyle and
embraced a way of progress that finds its place in the lifestyle of these
people. The sewing community project was participated in with the youth who
were amazed at the speed in which the manual action took place with the potential
onslaught of a heavy downpour that eventually caught up with us, and were very
helpful in erecting and installing the canopy tapestry in front of their
village meeting point.. They provided an inspiration for the abstract images
generated from the organic arrangements that nature puts together in jumbling
its own elements. The images provide an atmosphere of the areas from which they
were inspired as relics to the visual experience of the location of the fishing
villages that were visited.
June 2014
Ndidi Dike
Odun Orimolade
Tyna Adebowale
